Books in English

Influences, Pressures Pro and Con, and Opportunities. Studies on Political Interactions in and Involving Hungary in the Twentieth Century. Edited by Zoltán Ripp. Napvilág, Budapest, 2014. 368 p.

The studies published in this volume were written by the team of the Institute of Political History in Budapest. It is hoped that the writings will serve as examples of the research projects conducted in the past few years. A similar compilation has already been published under the title Regimes and Transformations: Hungary in the Twentieth Century (Budapest, Napvilág, 2005).

We hope that the studies presented in the new volume represent the characteristics of the research projects that are based on previous works but are conducted according to a new concept, while the individual essays can be read out of the context of the book.

Our compilation is an attempt to present the diversity of our work as well as the unity in that diversity. Obviously, most of our achievements are published in monographs, essays, conference volumes, and source publications; however, it might not be futile to draw the attention of international academic circles to the goals and achievements of the institute.

CONTENTS

  • Introduction
  • István Feitl: Globalization and Self-isolation in the First Half of the Twentieth Century: Global and Hungarian Developments
  • Balázs Sipos: Worldviews, Cultural Registers and the Presence of America in the Horthy Era: On Ways to Adapt the Exploration of Transnational and Relationship History
  • Gábor Egry: National Interactions: Hungarians as Minorities and Changes in the Definition of Who Is Hungarian in the 1930s
  • Péter Konok: Left Wing Dimensions: Worker Attitudes and International Trends in Hungary between the Two World Wars
  • Zoltán Ripp: When Moscow Put the Pressure on: A Decade of Hungarian–Yugoslav Conflicts, 1948–1958
  • György Földes: János Kádár’s Thoughts on Foreign Policy, 1968–1978Miklós Mitrovits: The Road to Socialism: Together or Separately?: The First Phase of De-Stalinization in Eastern and Central Europe
  • Róbert Takács: The Western and Socialist Concept of Freedom of the Press in Hungary during the Period between Stalin’s death and Helsinki (1953–1975)
  • István Feitl: Hungarian Plans to Reform the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, 1967–1970
  • György Földes: Double Mirror: 1968–2008: Myth and Reality
  • Attila Wéber: Europe as Conceptualised by the Hungarian Elite in the Late 1980s
  • Zoltán Ripp: Gorbachevism’s Model Nation: Hungary’s Role in the Transformation of Eastern and Central Europe

 

Regimes and Transformations. Hungary in the Twentieth Century. Edited by István Feitl and Balázs Sipos. Napvilág, Budapest, 2005. 464 p.

Hungary occupies a distinguished position in universal twentieth-century political history with its no less than eight changes of regime. In little more than seven decades revolutions, counter-revolutions, occupations, and new changes of regime followed each other. Interpretation of the events changed frequently, often to the liking of the victors, in works of history commissioned by the political power.

After 1990 Hungarian historical scholarship also underwent a renewal. The archives opened up, and with that a newly found freedom of scientific research set in. The aura of political commissions prevailed for a while, scholarly endeavours, however, broke away from the interference of politics. It was under such circumstances that the Institute of Political History was founded with the intention of focusing on, tackling and comprehending the complexities of twentieth-century Hungarian history. In the past fifteen years the researchers of the Institute have carried out several successful research projects. The focal point of their work has been contemporary history, approached from new points of view. We are determined to analyse political and social historical aspects in unison, as well as connect micro history into the unveiling of the processes of the period viewed also from macro historical perspectives. As a new field of research, we are examining the history of elections, electoral behaviour and political media. We also began to explore the post-1945 Hungarian history from a new perspective.

The present publication provides an overview of our work accomplished in the Institute during the last decade and a half.

CONTENTS